In functional testing, testers examine if the features of the system under test are operating by the requirements and functioning as intended. Functional testing often doesn’t focus on the internal code structure or implementation specifics, instead ensuring that the product does its given tasks.
One of the most popular and fundamental kinds of testing is functional testing and there are many types of functional testing. Functional testing is often in mind when people use the word “testing” in a generic sense.
Functional Testing Types and Examples:
1. Examining units
Developers use unit testing as a kind of functional testing when they create code and construct applications. Unit testing is used to verify a unit’s or component’s functioning by ensuring that, given a set of inputs, the intended outputs are produced. Being the most detailed test, it lays the groundwork for more intricate, extensive, and integrated features.
2. Module testing, or component testing
Because they both isolate and check a specific feature component testing and unit testing are comparable. However stimulative interactions with sample test data or stub and driver may be required for component testing at this stage.
3. Examining Integration
Although individual modules and components may pass quality engineers must nonetheless guarantee their collective functionality. Since modules and other system components are often developed independently by several developers integration testing is essential to ensuring that the system’s components function as intended.
Microservices, which are interoperable components of modern software architecture, are often used. Integration testing must be performed on these communications to make sure everything is working as it should.
4. Examination of systems
As the name implies this phase involves testing the software as an integrated whole to ensure that all functional and business requirements are satisfied. This is why it is often known as end to end testing and it frequently takes place just before user acceptance testing.
The test environment for system testing must be a precise duplicate of the production environment to provide reliable validation. Furthermore it is carried out using the white box testing technique in which testers are not involved in the systems creation.
5. Testing for regression
Any modification or addition to the program might completely destroy its current features. Every time changes are made to the program regression testing is done to ensure that it remains stable and functioning. Regression testing is labor intensive hence it’s often automated.
6. Testing for sanity
Sanity testing is done for a fresh build that includes new code or small problem fixes much like regression testing. The build will not be subjected to further testing if it is rejected at the sanity testing stage. While sanity testing focuses on certain sections impacted by new code or bug fixes exclusively regression testing tests the whole system after changes.
7. Smoke testing
A freshly built build is sent to the QAs for smoke testing when it is finished. Only the most essential and fundamental features are evaluated during this phase to make sure they provide the desired outcomes. Smoke testing, an early-stage acceptance test, provides an additional layer of verification to ascertain if the new build can go on to the next stage or requires revisions.
In summary:
A functional testing is an essential component of the software development life cycle and is interconnected with several other activities. Teams often use a variety of disjointed tools to address distinct testing requirements, however, and this leads to a complex, fragile, and challenging-to-expand toolkit for quality control.
This strategy will eventually be the largest obstacle to ongoing growth and a shorter time-to-market as teams and products expand. A software quality management platform is the answer, helping with every step of the testing process from planning and testing to reporting and release.
